Spring Break
New sports management major in development
Mark Norris, Senior Staff Writer, mnorris@smu.edu
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News
SMU wants new head coach June Jones to succeed, and he will soon have a helpful tool to make that happen. The school is putting together a sports-fitness management and promotion major in the School of Education and Human Development that could be offered as soon as fall 2009.
The major would be the biggest undergraduate program in the School of Education, which is primarily geared toward graduate level and certificate programs. The program will aslo be offered as a minor, mostly likely combined with another major like business.
"Student athletes may find this of interest," said David Chard, the dean of the school. Chard estimated 20 percent of those who would take the major could be student athletes.
Jones said he didn't know much about the sports-fitness major, but thought the idea was a good one.
"It gives you more options," Jones said.
The lack of sports-friendly majors and academic restrictions has been a big issue for SMU as it tries to revive its football program. After the school received the death penalty in 1987, the school imposed academic standards on itself much tougher than the other schools in its conference. Coaches since then have complained they were unable to recruit the type of players they wanted.
Former head coach Phil Bennett didn't mince words at the press conference announcing his firing about the issues he had with the standards.
"This is a tough job, let's not lie about it," he said. "To say we're on equal footing with our competitors in a lot of areas would be a lie."
Bennett says the school needs to ease the restrictions on the hours of transfers into the program and diversify the types of academic options available. SMU, for both athletes and normal student transfers, restricts the number and type of outside hours transferred in because it requires a majority of hours toward a major be taken at SMU.
"Steve [Orsini, athletic director] knows it, Gerald [Turner, SMU's President] knows it, that to get this thing where it needs to be there's got to be some concessions made in a lot of different areas," Bennett said. "Both academic and financial. From start to finish - the commitment."
The major would be the biggest undergraduate program in the School of Education, which is primarily geared toward graduate level and certificate programs. The program will aslo be offered as a minor, mostly likely combined with another major like business.
"Student athletes may find this of interest," said David Chard, the dean of the school. Chard estimated 20 percent of those who would take the major could be student athletes.
Jones said he didn't know much about the sports-fitness major, but thought the idea was a good one.
"It gives you more options," Jones said.
The lack of sports-friendly majors and academic restrictions has been a big issue for SMU as it tries to revive its football program. After the school received the death penalty in 1987, the school imposed academic standards on itself much tougher than the other schools in its conference. Coaches since then have complained they were unable to recruit the type of players they wanted.
Former head coach Phil Bennett didn't mince words at the press conference announcing his firing about the issues he had with the standards.
"This is a tough job, let's not lie about it," he said. "To say we're on equal footing with our competitors in a lot of areas would be a lie."
Bennett says the school needs to ease the restrictions on the hours of transfers into the program and diversify the types of academic options available. SMU, for both athletes and normal student transfers, restricts the number and type of outside hours transferred in because it requires a majority of hours toward a major be taken at SMU.
"Steve [Orsini, athletic director] knows it, Gerald [Turner, SMU's President] knows it, that to get this thing where it needs to be there's got to be some concessions made in a lot of different areas," Bennett said. "Both academic and financial. From start to finish - the commitment."
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